Photo City Blues

Coming Home

Our family lived in Brisbane, Australia from July, 2017 to August, 2020. Each year we would return to the USA to visit family and friends for the holidays, mostly in Florida and the American Midwest. Last year we ended our trip with a week in Rochester. It was our first time back in Rochester in two years. Our travel plans had me arriving in Rochester a day ahead of the family, just after New Year’s Day. I decided to make the best of my alone time to capture some photographs of my adopted home town.

Most of the shots I’ve taken which I would call “keepers” were captured after being distracted from my primary plan or objective. This shot was no exception. I started out on the east side of High Falls hoping to capture a good sunset to pair with the 96 foot waterfall. As the sun receded, I watched the lights come on in the city around me.

Secondary Goals

After a fizzle of a sunset I wandered over the bridge looking for some good blue hour perspectives, with Kodak Tower lingering in the back of mind. After dozens of photos of the falls with a very flat and disappointing sky, I beat feet over to Platt and State to try and capture Kodak Tower before the detail faded from the sky.

Using the new ultra-wide angle lens that I purchased myself for Christmas, I captured a couple of shots that I blended together to create this image. The first shot used a slow shutter to capture the movement of a moving bus. The second utilized a wider aperture, and a faster shutter speed to preserve the detail in the sky. The clouds were moving quite quickly that night.

Printing a Rochester Icon

I’ve processed a few versions of this photo, including one that I posted last year with a murder of crows filling the sky. Ultimately, I decided to go with a crow free image since my shutter speed was too slow to freeze their motion and I felt that their blurred forms were a distraction. I recently had to revisit this photo to prepare it for print (editing and proofing photos for printing quite the involved process; they always come out darker than you would expect – but that’s another blog post).

Click on the image to view view print purchase options.

Composite. Shot with OM-D E-M10 Mark II and the Venus Laowa 7.5mm F2, 10 sec, F/22 ,ISO 100 (bus streak) & 1/13 sec F/2.0, ISO 100 (background)

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